Chapter 5 - The Man at the Airport
Mason Keene returned to Aspen in handcuffs.
He had not yet been charged with the pool attack.
He had, however, lied to investigators, attempted to leave the country while evidence was being sought, and possessed forty-seven thousand dollars in cash inside his luggage.
Michael watched his interview through the one-way glass only because prosecutors permitted him to observe a limited portion related to company property.
Mason was forty-five, polished, ambitious, and normally incapable of entering a room without making everyone believe he belonged there.
Now he looked smaller.
Detective Ruiz placed a photograph of the blue envelope on the table.
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You removed it from Locker 17.”
“I moved it.”
“To where?”
“Victoria asked me to give it to her.”
“When?”
“After the pool incident.”
“Did you?”
Mason hesitated.
“My lawyer—”
“Your lawyer is sitting beside you.”
His attorney murmured, “Answer only what we discussed.”
Mason swallowed.
“Yes.”
Michael’s jaw tightened.
Ruiz asked, “Where did you give it to her?”
“I didn’t.”
“You just said—”
“I was supposed to.”
“What happened?”
“I saw police.”
“And?”
“I panicked.”
“Where did the envelope go?”
“I put it somewhere safe.”
“Where?”
Mason stared at the table.
His attorney ended the interview.
Michael swore under his breath.
Lena pulled him away.
“You cannot intimidate a witness.”
“He’s not a witness. He’s part of this.”
“You don’t know that yet.”
“I know he was leaving with cash.”
“Which looks terrible. Still not proof of everything you think.”
Michael hated uncertainty.
It made him reckless.
Rachel had known that too.
Later, Margaret Chen arrived from Denver carrying a certified copy of Rachel’s trust amendment.
It clearly removed Victoria as successor trustee.
The reason was not stated.
The amendment named Rocky Mountain Trust Company instead.
Lena smiled for the first time in two days.
“This blocks the cleanest route to the trust shares.”
Michael did not smile.
“Unless someone argues the amendment was revoked.”
Margaret looked at him.
“Exactly.”
“What?”
“The original matters because Victoria may claim Rachel changed her mind.”
“Did she?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Rachel called me three days before she died.”
Margaret opened her phone records.
“She confirmed the amendment remained her intention.”
“Do you have the call recorded?”
“No.”
Michael rubbed his forehead.
“Victoria has spent a year acting as if she was successor.”
“She was never activated as trustee because you remained in office.”
“But she could claim the copy is incomplete.”
“She can claim many things. Winning is different.”
Michael thought of the sale.
Monday.
Two days away.
Lena had already filed an emergency request asking a Colorado probate court to confirm the amendment and restrain any attempted trustee substitution until authenticity was resolved.
Meanwhile, Bennett Leisure Group’s board postponed the Silverpine vote.
Victoria’s allies objected.
The outside investor bloc threatened litigation.
Someone wanted the transaction badly.
Michael needed to know why.
He went looking for Ethan.
Ethan opened his villa door wearing a gray sweater and a bruise Michael had put on his face.
“I assume you aren’t here to hit me again.”
Michael grimaced.
“No.”
“Progress.”
“I need to ask you something.”
Ethan stepped aside.
His villa was covered in laptops.
Not vacation laptops.
Workstations.
Network maps were displayed on one screen.
Michael stopped.
“What is this?”
Ethan’s face changed.
Michael looked at another monitor.
A file name appeared.
SILVERPINE DUE DILIGENCE — HALCYON RIDGE
His anger flared.
“You work for the buyer.”
Ethan closed the laptop.
“I’m a contractor.”
“You told me you were a guest.”
“I am a guest.”
“You’re conducting due diligence on my resort.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t think that mattered?”
“I signed a confidentiality agreement.”
Michael stepped closer.
Ethan did not move.
“You watched my sister attack Sophie.”
“That had nothing to do with my contract.”
“Maybe.”
“Michael.”
“Maybe you were already watching my family.”
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“I was working in a glass corridor when your sister nearly drowned your daughter.”
“She didn’t nearly drown—”
Michael stopped.
The words disgusted him.
He had almost repeated Victoria’s minimization.
Ethan noticed.
“So that’s how it works?”
“What?”
“You get scared, and you defend the person who caused the fear.”
Michael said nothing.
Ethan continued.
“You want to know why I was in the spa corridor? Halcyon hired my firm to assess Silverpine’s cybersecurity and property-control systems before acquisition.”
“Who hired you?”
“Halcyon’s risk committee.”
“Does that include Daniel Cross?”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
Daniel Cross was Halcyon Ridge Capital’s managing partner.
“Why?”
“Because somebody is pushing a sale twenty percent below appraised value.”
Ethan became quiet.
Michael took one step closer.
“And my sister wants control of Sophie’s shares.”
Ethan looked toward his closed laptop.
“What aren’t you telling me?” Michael asked.
Ethan hesitated.
Then opened a folder.
“There’s a side-channel document on Silverpine’s server.”
“What kind?”
“A consulting agreement.”
“Between?”
“A company called Alpine Strategic Services and an entity controlled by Halcyon executive Daniel Cross.”
Michael frowned.
“How much?”
“Two-point-four million dollars.”
“For what services?”
“That’s the problem.”
Ethan turned the screen.
The payment was scheduled for three days after the proposed Silverpine closing.
The recipient was not Daniel Cross.
It was Alpine Strategic Services.
Registered owner:
May you like
Victoria Bennett.
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